Also in WSJ.com:

Gadget Wars

Technology giants are making a big push to bring more hand-held devices to consumers at a faster pace, creating fresh ammunition in the cutthroat gadget wars. Apple, long seen as the innovator in smartphones, has been wrestling with an image problem lately. Samsung Electronics, meanwhile, is trying to sustain its momentum with the coming release of its next Galaxy phone.

New BlackBerry Name, Same Old Problems

By Will Connors

An attendee views the BlackBerry Q5 smartphone during the company's annual general meeting on Tuesday.

Bloomberg News

WATERLOO, Ontario—Research In Motion Ltd. officially changed its name to BlackBerry Ltd. at its annual shareholders meeting Tuesday. But the company continued to face some of the same tough questions that have dogged management for years, particularly about its poor showing in the U.S. smartphone market.

The core business of the meeting, held near company headquarters here, included the name change and an announcement that two longtime board members, John Wetmore and former chairman John Richardson, wouldn’t seek re-election to the board.

Shareholders have punished BlackBerry’s stock after it reported weaker-than-expected earnings last month. In prepared remarks at the meeting, Chief Executive Thorsten Heins asked shareholders for more patience, saying the company was still in the early stages of its recovery.

“We obviously did not deliver what many analysts and investors expected in the short term,” Mr. Heins said. “We’re driving night and day to deliver improvements.”

As part of its restructuring, the company is planning to cut more jobs across middle management in the sales and support divisions, say people familiar with the matter, on top of the 5,000 layoffs last fiscal year.

Part of the latest cuts included Richard Piasentin, the company’s vice president for sales in the U.S., who was fired last month, these people said. A BlackBerry spokesman confirmed that Mr. Piasentin is no longer with the company, but declined to comment on layoffs.

The meeting wasn’t contentious, but unlike last year, when shareholders praised the company and Mr. Heins, they asked more pointed questions about the company’s strategy.

Activist shareholder Vic Alboini of Jaguar Financial Corp. asked about the possibility of breaking up or selling the company, an option the company began considering last year.

“Before you go into any strategic options,” Mr. Heins replied, “I think you have to create value. Currently, I cannot distract management from what I expect them to do.”

Mr. Heins did say he was “100% open to partnerships and alliances,” but declined to elaborate about who those potential partners might be.

Many shareholders expressed frustration at the slow uptake for the company’s new slate of smartphones launched this year. Of particular concern was the company’s poor performance in the U.S., where its market share has dwindled from over 50% in 2009 to less than 3%, according to Gartner, and where sales of the all-touch-screen Z10 have failed to take off since its March launch.

One shareholder said he thought the Z10 rollout in the U.S. was “a disaster,” and asked if the launch of the keyboard-equipped Q10 would be better. Another shareholder asked why the company was finding it so hard to build momentum in the U.S.

Mr. Heins conceded “there were many lessons learned” in the U.S. but said he didn’t think the launch was a disaster. He placed much of the blame on U.S. carriers, whom he accused of “opportunistic thinking” in only promoting hot-selling devices, alluding to Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Samsung Electronics Corp.’s Galaxy line of phones.

The nine remaining BlackBerry board members were all overwhelmingly re-elected. Only board chairwoman Barbara Stymiest received less than 98% of the vote. Ms. Stymiest received 81% of the vote, while more than 18% of shareholders withheld their vote.